With less than 1 per cent of the total UK market, no-one is saying the cold weather segment is huge, but speaking to influential market representatives reveals that the last couple of years have seen the industry make renewed efforts to raise awareness, emphasising both the safety benefits and profitability that cold weather tyres offer. Some manufacturers are even expecting the segment to total 3 million units “in the medium to long term.” Tyres & Accessories spoke to the leading cold weather players and asked what progress they have made and what’s happening next?

In short the answer is growth. Many of the manufacturers surveyed by T&A said 2005 was a good year for cold-weather sales, while all were positive about their performance this year. T&A estimates, based on Europool figures suggest that almost 54,000 non-truck winter tyres were sold in the UK last year, up almost 15 per cent on 2004.